30 Day Video Game Challenge – Day 1: Very First Video Game

What better way to start the 30 Days of Gaming Challenge than right at the beginning – that’s right, the first games that each of us had the privilege of playing. For some of us, that will be old arcade machine titles, such as Pacman, for others, they wil be homebound experiences on consoles such as the NES and PlayStation 1, but we all have titles which got us hooked on gaming.

Below you’ll find our writers’ picks of what their first titles in gaming were, or what the first title they remember playing was.

Brady

First video game ever played? Yikes, that was quite a while ago. Thinking back, I can only ever imagine playing my first game on the NES. I have fond memories of games like Contra, Elevator Action and Battle City. However, I don’t think that any of those games were my first. I’d have to say that Super Mario Bros. was the very first game that I ever played. I actually remember how it could be hard as hell sometimes, but when I play it today it’s a breeze.

Darryl

The very first video I played was Excitebike. The only problem was I did not get a chance to play it for long… as I accidentally smashed the brand new TV that my dad just bought. I think I was around 6 years old at the time.

Tracy

I guess Ski Free doesn’t count does it? The first video game I can remember playing was Super Mario Brothers on my cousin’s NES when we went to their house during school holidays. My sister and I used to play Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the old Sega Master System, and by that I mean she got to play because she was the oldest, and I was allowed to sit and watch! The first video games I remember playing sort of seriously were Age of Empires and The Sims.

Bracken

My videogame experiences only go back as far as Windows 98 and the original PlayStation, due to my age, and while I know that the first game I actually owned on PS1 was Tekken 3, my first game would have to be on the PC. The first full game I actually remember playing on PC was the original Prince of Persia title, which were side-scrolling action adventure titles. This set up a later love of the series which I’m still fond of today.

William

If I am truthful to myself the first game that I ever played was on an early Apple. It was a variation of snake, popularised on early cell phones.

The game appeared in the green and black font of the day making it resemble the code from the matrix and the snake was composed out of computer 0s and 1s instead of colours or patterns. I think, at a fairly young age, I enjoyed the game, but it certainly feels like a sordid vision from the past when I consider what the gaming world has achieved since then. With a lot of programming, however things only get better because there is a strong foundation in place. The success of the game years late will tell you that it was in fact an ingenious formula for gameplay, despite a lack of variety or graphics. Needless to say, I am glad things have progressed since those days!

So what about you? Are you a lifelong gamer whose first game was on the ancient Pong systems? Were you indoctrinated into the PlayStation 2’s dominion over its generation’s console market? Or are you a more recent arrival, having strung your first combos on the Xbox 360 or Dualshock 3 Controllers? Let us know in the comments below!

As Bracken stated, because of age, I started out on a PlayStation 1, and this is where I found a game I still love to this day : Digimon. Although I have yet to find one out today, my old PS1 is still running and occasionally I’ll whip it out and brush the dust off to be able to enjoy Digimon again. This was that started it all for me.

CataclysmicDawn

DotA = Digimon of the Ancients? :D?

Michael Garvie

XD That would be THEE most EPIC game ever XD

Tracy Benson

I completely skipped the Playstation 1, was I missing out? I went from the old Sega to PC, then to PS2 (for my 18th birthday, thanks dad!), back to PC and now PS3 and PC together

CataclysmicDawn

I wouldn’t say you missed much; There were definitely gems on the PS1, but Sony’s success came with the PS2, as did most of the quality titles.

http://www.facebook.com/brendon.bosch Brendon Bosch

Pang. Friggin Pang in the arcade. PANG FTW

http://egmr.net/author/cavie Caveshen Rajman

Very first, hey? That’s a tough one, since I played games before I was capable of forming memories, but I think my earliest memories of ‘playing TV games’ involved Excite Bike and Tetris. The ‘ol classic. I do know the first I finished, but I would rate that’s a topic for another day.

CataclysmicDawn

Well, it’s not on the list for the next month, so what was the game you first finished?

http://egmr.net/author/cavie Caveshen Rajman

HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT?!

Super Mario Bros 3.

CataclysmicDawn

Well, that is because we didn’t make the list, we merely adopted it

Yashaar Mall

Okay, the first game that I played, that i remember having any sort of comprehension about how to play a game, is Sonic 3 on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis 2

Monde K.

Same here, and I still play it today!

Nicola Dee

Well I have to go with Circus Charlie and Mappy. Both were on the same cartridge and both were awesome to play. I also did the Mario of course but the first proper game I remember really enjoying was Space Quest.